Purge the Vermin
Well hello there. Welcome back everybody. Ive been away awhile, but I've not been idle! In fact I played my first game of 9th edition 40k. It was also my first outing with the Necrons from the Indomitus box, so I decided to mark the occasion with a fluffy battle report!
Overlord Sekhtep overlooked the vermin's approach, pity mixed with disdain for these savages. Their carmine livery standing out starkly against the grey wasteland of ruination around them, they made the way clumsily through the skeletal remains of the human settlement. For the past chrononal rotation, his legions of the Kheldorahk dynasty had been reclaiming their lost coreworld of Delshenq from the savage human upstarts. The humans arrived when Sekhtep and his legions slept and had spread like a plague until they covered the surface of Delshenq. The invaders were felled quickly and efficiently, their crude settlements scourged and dismantled by swarms of Canoptek machines. That was until these red clad giants arrived. Brutal and eager for battle, these so called Space Marines proved to be adequate at war and had slowed the reclamation of the world. Sekhtep had had enough of the stymied advance and decided to take to the field personally to teach these upstarts how war was made when they were still apes in the tall grass and the stars were young.
So we only played a 500pt game as we were both new-ish with 9th ed. My opponent's list was a pretty brutal looking Blood Angels CQC army. He had:
Slam Captain
5 Reivers
4 Sanguinary Guard
Death Company Dreadnought
Arrayed against this were the serried ranks of the Kheldorahk Dynasty (using Mephrit rules) composed of:
Overlord with Glaive and Arrow
Chronomancer with Cryptogeometric Adjuster
10 Warriors with Reaper
10 Warriors with Flayer
3 Scarabs
We played the Outriders mission. I liked this mission as it promotes a multifront fight.
Sekhtep summoned his advisor Senjut to attend him in battle. The Chronomancer was not best pleased to be taken away from his studies in the vivisectori chambers, but knew better than to refuse his lord. Floating amongst his attender scarabs, Senjut took his place at the overlord's side. After a quick inspection of his warriors, Sehktep orders the advance. He knew the Space Marines were merely a forward operating force, an attempt at probing his legions for weakness. The fools were blundering into right into his hands. Sehktep had arrayed his forces in the ruins of a human settlement called Fornor Point, and it was here that these Space Marines would meet their doom.
Sekhtep surveys the battlefield.
From atop his perch, Sehktep saw a crude bipedal walker burst through a ruined structure bearing down on his forces, belching smoke and bellowing in vox amplified rage. He sent a portion of his control into his Warriors wielding heavier gauss weaponry forward to deal with it. Opening fire as one, the warriors stripped back layer after layer of armor, but the walker kept charging forward spewing gouts flame from an underslung weapon as it went. Despite the punishing volleys, it made contact with the ranks of Warriors, bowling them over, crushing several underfoot. Other Warriors flickered in and out of current time with the help of Senjut's arcane technology. Those broken under foot did not stay crushed long, however. Pulling themselves back together the returned to the ranks and continued the fight.
I won the roll off and took the first turn. The death company dread spent 2 CP to pregame move up into threat range. I left the scarabs on my home objective. Thinking defensively, I put the Chronomancer's doodad on the Reaper warriors for a 5++. I also put My Will Be Done on them to try and deal with the dread, which the did with aplomb, taking half its wounds off in a single volley thanks to the Vengeful Stars protocol. Every one else shuffled around a bit. In hindsight I probably should have moved the other warriors up, but such is life. On the Blood Angels' turn, the dread moved up and flamed the reaper warrior, killing 2, and melta'd them, killing another. All three Reanimated, much to my opponent's chagrin. The dread then charged the Reaper warriors, who stripped off another two wounds with overwatch, whiffed his attacks, only killing two warriors, one of which stood back up.
A very angry dread
Sehktep watched the melee with mild fascination, for all the walker's fury, it couldn't find purchase in the implacable advance of his Warriors. Exerting a directive from the Code, the overlord willed the Warriors to fall back and keep up the rate of fire upon the behemoth. They carried out the order with thoughtless efficiency, stripping down the beast's armor further still. Sehktep was surprised to see a ragged, pale corpse deep within the armored walker, a strange glazed look upon its ruined face. As he watched the walker emitted a wild howl of rage and pain and charged forward into the phalanx of Warriors under Senjut's command. Whatever it hoped to accomplish, it failed as the massed gauss fire found its mark and stripped away the wretched organic material inside the walker which ground to a halt and toppled over, lifeless. Turning his attention back to the center of the battlefield, resplendent golden figures advanced into contact with his Warriors seconded to Senjut as a single figure alighted down from the sky into a building opposite the Overlord's own. Sehktep recognized the air of command about this one and, had he still been capable, Sehktep would have laughed. This skirmish would be over before too long.
Turn two saw the enactment of the 'fall back and shoot' protocol which got the reaper Warriors out of harm's way and allowed them to shoot the dread. They rolled like clownshoes this time, though and only did one wound, which the dread saved. I moved up the other Warriors and engaged the sanguinary guard, splitting fire between them and the dread. Against the Guard, they rolled clownshoes, wounding only once. But they made up for it by blasting the last two wounds off the dread. Luckily Senjut was a boss and did 3 damage with his Aeonstave, killing the wounded Sanguinary Guard. The Sanguinary Guard got theirs back though in the assault phase, killing six Warriors, only one of which got back up. The Smash Captain arrived and looked imposing from atop the other tall building.
Dread's dead, baby.
Bad picture of a cool standoff.
Sanguinary Guard carve up some Warriors
The golden armored giants wrought a heavy toll on Senjut's Warriors, though Sehktep was pleased to see the Chronomancer make a good account for himself. With a thought, the Overlord sent orders for the Cryptek to pull back, while ordering his phalanx of reaper Warriors forward to engage this new threat. Senjut sent forth is attender scarabs to support their retreat. With the center secure for now, it was time to remove the head from the snake. Sehktep fired his tachyon arrow at the opposing commander. The rod sped forward in the blink of an eye, yet impossibly the Space Marine's oversized shield intercepted the projectile and with the crack of thunder and a blaze of discharging energy, turned it away. With a battle cry, the Space Marine activated his thruster pack and launched himself in to the retreating phalanx under Senjut's control even as the Cryptek sent his scarabs into the golden armored warriors. Irritation flared in Sehktep's synapses as he decended from his vantage point to deal with these savages personally.
Turn Three saw the beleaguered Warrior unit and Senjut fall back while bringing up the scarabs to engage the Sanguinary Guard. I shot the gauss reaper squad into the sanguinary guard, killing another one and leaving one wound on another, the Overlord descends from his perch after firing his tachyon arrow at the Slam Captain who made his invul save. the scarabs charge in and I use the self destruct stratagem to blow up a base and deal two mortal wounds, bringing the Guard down to its last man. On the Blood Angels' turn, he charges in the Slam Captain killing the remaining flayer Warriors, although they do manage to force through a wound on overwatch before they go. The Sanguinary Guard and scarabs trade blows ineffectually.
Two leaders face off.
Buuugs! Buuuuugs!
Sehktep grew tired of this battle. He knew that a decisive blow had to be struck soon. The commander of the crimson Space Marines had just finished clubbing his way through the last of Senjut's phalanx and bellowed a challenge. Cold mirth entered Sehktep's synapses as, with a contemptuous wave of his hand, he sent a command to his reaper Warriors. Channeling a portion of their own energy into that of their weapons, the Warriors unleashed a truly devastating volley of gauss energy. The Space Marine commander raised his oversized shield to protect himself, and for a brief moment it worked. With a burst of cobalt energy discharge the shield's power field sputtered and overloaded as the thunderous volley hammered into the commander, stripping his atoms away until he was naught but dust on the wind. Satisfied with this result, Sehktep exited the building and stepped out to engage the surviving golden armored warrior. Although this golden giant put up a spirited defense, Sehktep had centuries of combat experience. As the Overlord stepped over the smoking corpse, he notice movement in the distance. With irritation, Sehktep realized some of the red armored warriors had hung back to accomplish some unknown objective. With a thought he called his Warriors to him and advanced toward them, firing as they went. Several of them were destroyed by the volleys of gauss, but the remaining members of the squad fell back and disappeared into the fog of war. Sahktep halted his Warriors and called up Senjut to begin the process of repair and reclamation. The Space Marines would return, and when they did, Sehktep would be ready for them.
Turn four brought mostly clean up. I used the Mephrit specific stratagem that does up to 3 mortal wounds on 6s to hit on the reaper Warriors and blasted the Slam Captain off the table. I then charged the Overlord into the last Sanguinary Guard and killed him. Unfortunately for me, I'd forgotten about the Reivers who'd planted themselves in a place where I'd be hard pressed to root em out.
Turn five was a mad dash to kill those damn Reivers. I used the Mephrit strat on the reaper squad and opened up on them with everything I had. I managed to kill 3 of them but they passed morale, meaning a Space Marine victory 46-44! It was a hella close game and I really enjoyed it.
Overlord gettin his hands dirty
Thus endeth the story for today, kind readers. I hope you enjoyed reading my silly stories as much as I liked playing/writing it. Seeya next time!
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